My ex husband and I got divorced 10 years ago and I have custody of our 12 year old daughter. He had already stopped paying child support before he left and then stopped showing up for visitation altogether in Oct. 2010. I haven't heard anything from him since. I think that he has left the country. I want to file for abandonment papers here in Utah. How do I do this and is this the best option for my situation?

My ex husband and I got divorced 10 years ago and I have custody of our 12 year old daughter. He had already stopped paying child support before he left and then stopped showing up for visitation altogether in Oct. 2010. I havent heard anything from him since. I think that he has left the country. I want to file for abandonment papers here in Utah. How do I do this and is this the best option for my situation?

There is a sticky regarding Abandonment at the top of the Family Law forum, which you can read here:
https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/family-law/child-abandonment-read-first-364259.html

Certain states, such as Georgia, do constitute failure to pay child support as abandonment - I'm not positive what Utah's laws are.

Can I ask why you're trying to file against him? If he's not exercising his rights, wouldn't you rather just let sleeping dogs lie?

If you have custody he can not abandone her, only you can. Was there a divorce decree that stipulated what he was supposed to pay for support

What do you think filing for abandonment will get you?

Also quite frankly most courts that have law in place wouldn't consider it as abandonment until at least 6 months. It hasn't been 2 full months yet.